Ireland faces aviation challenges as Air Corps fleet is grounded

The Irish Air Corps and the Garda Air Support Unit are facing significant operational challenges regarding their aircraft fleets. A fleet of four Pilatus PC-12 transport and surveillance aircraft has been grounded for eight weeks due to a maintenance scheduling ‘anomaly’. This issue, described by a Defence Forces spokesman as a misalignment between tracking software and manufacturer requirements, has left only one aircraft available for critical missions, including government transport and surveillance during the EU Presidency.

Separately, records show that the Garda Air Support Unit spent over €550,000 on maintenance and fuel for a single Defender 4000 surveillance aircraft between 2023 and 2025, despite the plane logging only approximately seven hours of active flight time during that period. Much of the flight time reportedly consisted of manufacturer test flights. The aging aircraft, which was retired in late 2025, faced severe maintenance issues that frequently grounded it, leading to high costs such as €275,684 in maintenance for a single year in which it flew only five hours.